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CHINA WATCH [FEBRUARY 14-20] CHINA OFFERS SUPPORT TO FIGHT TERRORISM
China has condemned the Sehwan terrorist attack and offered its support against the terrorism and extremism to Pakistan. Pakistan has said that India was openly opposing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China and India will hold strategic talks this week to discuss the banning of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Masood Azhar, and India’s inclusion in the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Ministry of Water and Power shared the details of terms and conditions of financing and tariff structure of energy projects with National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms. Pakistan and China have revised the ‘priority list’ of the energy projects to be completed within the next two years under the CPEC. Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BOI) has identified 41 sites to establish SEZs as part of the CPEC. KP government will establish a force of 2,600 personnel for the security of CPEC and Swat Motorway. China Offers Support to Fight Terrorism: China condemned the Sehwan terrorist attack and offered its support against terrorism and extremism.[1] Chinese Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Geng Shuang said that “[W]e express deep condolences to victims and sincere sympathies to the injured and bereaved.” The statement came in the aftermath of a gory terrorist attack on the shrine of Sufi Lal Shahbaz in Sindh that took the lives of more than 80 people. During the last week, Pakistan saw a sudden surge in terror attacks that seriously undermined the stability and order that had been achieved after relatively successful implementation of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb and the National Action Plan. Above all, the attacks have exposed the limitations of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism strategy and refreshed the questions whether the country is ready to provide foolproof security to the multi-billion dollar CPEC project. India Threat to CPEC: Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, said in his weekly briefing that India was openly...
Sabawoon Showcase: February 16, 2017
Tolerance and Respect for Diversity The latest episode of Ranra (light) took up the subject of intolerance in our society and the important of respect for diversity in promoting peace. Other points of discussion included the definition and scope of tolerance, diversity and its implications, Pashtun values, extremism and terrorism, socio-economic development in the region, minority rights, civil society advocacy campaigns to promote respect for diversity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and lack of proper content about these ideals in educational curricula. Two social activists and bloggers, Ms. Ghazala Ghazal and Mr. Waqar Anwer from Peshawar, took part as studio guests. Ms. Ghazal said: “The root cause of extremism and terrorism in Pakistan is the intolerance for diversity and other religious groups. People need to understand the ideals of tolerance and respect for diversity. Without these values, we cannot think of a peaceful society.” Mr. Anwer said: “We should consider our differences as a source of dynamism and diversity. There is a dire need to make education about these ideals part of curricula.” A radio report highlighted how intolerance has given birth to different regional and national issues and the role of peaceful coexistence in conflict resolution. Five callers participated live in the program. They highlighted the role of parents, teachers, community elders, and text books in promoting the spirit of tolerance among youth. About Sabawoon Sabawoon airs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It is designed to highlight the local issues and promote the fundamental governance values, such as democracy, rule of law, women’s rights, and equal citizenry. The show airs Monday through Thursday every week under four themes on FM-101.5 Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan 711 KHZ from 3:20 PM to 4:00 PM. On Monday, Jarga Maraka covers current affairs and important regional issues with an input from...
Detention – a Shift in Policy!
For many in Pakistan, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Chief of defunct Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) & Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) is a hero. He is regarded as a credible crusader for the Kashmir cause. He admits his organization's role in keeping the Kashmir movement alive. His high profiled political activities including openly eulogizing the Kashmir martyrs of Pakistani origin have brought Pakistan in conflict with the UN and US sanctions. His free movement has been a major hurdle in starting India-Pakistan stalled dialogue. The Government of Pakistan has withstood US pressure and Indian media battering for some time now. One wonders what caused a sudden shift in the government policy, which led to the house arrest of Hafiz Saeed along with four other persons. If the detention is "in national interest" and therefore a "national policy", about which there is no doubt how come the detention was not considered earlier? If as claimed that there were no sufficient evidence for his detention what new facts emerged suddenly for the government to ignore the past court orders squashing similar detentions. Hafiz Saeed was arrested twice in 2001, once in 2002, thrice in 2006 and once in 2009. On all occasions, detentions were brief. Media has quizzed whether the house arrest manifests a turning point or a meaningful shift in Pakistan's policy of dealing with alleged terrorists. Have we reached a stage where the government is seriously contemplating a broader review of its policy part of which is how to deal with people sanctioned by UN as terrorists? If this is the case, it is a sign of wisdom, and political maturity, an act of pragmatism and realpolitik, above all an opportune display of astute diplomacy. Unfortunately, the timing and developments related to the detention, indirectly or directly, have thrown up many disturbing questions about the pressures the country is facing. The countries interested in the trial of Hafiz Saeed fail to appreciate lack of evidence, which can stand...
President Ghani: Terrorism is the defining challenge of our time which requires generational commitment to overcome
President Ghani’s Speech (Transcript) at 53rd Munich Security Conference Dateline: February 18, 2017. Munich, Germany Distinguished colleagues, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Terrorism is a defining challenge of our time. This challenge is going to require a generational commitment to overcome. It is not a phenomenon that is going to be contained in two years, more likely two decades. The wise men and women of 1945 feeling present at creation made half the world safe for democracy, rule of law and prosperity. Being present at a moment defining the 21st century, the task requires focus at the global, continental, Islamic, regional and national levels. We are at a moment when the world order is being re-defined and it is up to us as to whether we are going to make it productive, disruptive or destructive. We have a view from the edge because we are on the edge and we sense and respond to emerging patterns that might be difficult to see elsewhere. Fighting 20 groups classified as terrorist by US and UN, we are the frontline state in the first line of defense against terrorism. This is not a fight that we are doing just for our own liberty; we are engaged in a fight for security of the world. What are we learning? I would like to highlight some of the characteristics of the terrorism that we are facing. In earlier conferences, I put forward the notion that this is the fifth wave of political violence integrating and expanding the techniques of the previous waves in the past 160 years. The history of violence is a continuous history. There is no civilization, no religion, no part of the world that once in the last 160 years has not been a major center or engaged in terrorism. In no way, shape or form is terrorism related to one civilization or to one religion. The past geology of it needs to be understood because it is a series of continuous techniques. It has combined social network and virtual networks into a deadly force. The social networks are continuity of...
European Union and Afghanistan sign Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy and Vice–President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, and the Minister of Finance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Eklil Hakimi, today signed a Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development (CAPD), in the presence of the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani. "The European Union has always stood by the Afghan people and will continue to do so. After the very successful international conference we have jointly chaired in Brussels last year, now our cooperation grows even more. The Cooperation Agreement we have signed today will allow us to build on the areas that we already engage with the Afghan authorities on, such as human development, anti-corruption, state building, and the rule of law, as well as cooperation on migration. This agreement is a partnership agreement by name and by nature. The European Union will keep working with our Afghan partners for the stability and the sustainable development of the country, for the sake of all Afghans," said the High Representative/Vice-President, Federica Mogherini. Minister Hakimi underlined that: "The Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development (CAPD) is a vital new framework for partnership between Afghanistan and the European Union. This agreement builds on our mutual commitments for stability and development made in Bonn in 2011, in Tokyo in 2012, in London in 2014 and renewed at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan last year. It also formalises our partnership and provides an opportunity to strengthen friendship and cooperation between Afghanistan and the EU by conducting regular political dialogue on various fronts including on support for peace, security and development in Afghanistan and the region. I thank Ms. Mogherini, on behalf of the EU, for opening up a new chapter in the Afghanistan-EU relationship.” The Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development is the...
Russia Bars U.S. From Afghanistan Peace Conference, Supports Taliban Terrorists
Russia barred the U.S. from the Afghanistan peace conference held in Moscow on Wednesday, much to the consternation of Afghanistan. The peace conference was surrounded with public recriminations. Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran are on one side, and Afghanistan and India are on the other. Pakistan, Iran, and Russia have supported the Taliban, which is an insurgent organization that frequently uses terrorist tactics against civilian targets. China had direct talks with the Taliban last year, and its military vehicles have recently been spotted in Afghanistan. Russia says support of the Taliban will counter the Islamic State, which is the more dangerous foe. But such support will really just weaken the current elected government of Afghanistan, and its U.S. supporters, and give Russia a new client in the region. The U.S. should reconsider whether Russia can be trusted as a responsible ally against terrorism. Russia disparages the elected government of Afghanistan as unwilling to fight Islamic State. At the conference last year, Russia only invited Pakistan and China. For Russia not to invite NATO members who have been most involved in trying to bring peace, development, democracy, and the rule of law to Afghanistan is insulting, but perhaps not surprising since Russia, and its ally China, oppose U.S. influence in the region. As the U.S. and its allies retreat from Afghanistan, Russia, China, Iran, and Pakistan are trying to fill the resulting power vacuum by allying through the Taliban against not only Islamic State, but against the current democratically-elected government of Afghanistan. This will result in more Taliban influence in Kabul, and could hasten or even lead to the overthrow of the elected government. That is unfortunate for the citizens of Afghanistan, who will lose their relatively secular government in exchange for more violence, the old fundamentalist Islamic government of the Taliban, or both. It will also be a very public failure of the U.S. and...
Ready To Work with Pakistan Military, Civilian Govt: Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister
Afghanistan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai says Afghanistan wants to engage the government of Pakistan in order to reduce tension. “But the restraint cannot be exercised by only one side,” he told members of the Pakistani and Afghan members during a track-II dialogue process “Beyond Boundaries” at his office, amid tensions after a recent wave of terrorist attacks in Pakistan which killed nearly 100 people. Pakistani banned groups, which Pakistani security officials say operate from Afghan side of the border, claimed responsibility. “There are options available for Afghanistan as Pakistan violated many international conventions by resorting to unilateral actions involving shelling inside Afghanistan. We consider closure of the border a violation of the rights of the landlord country,” he said. He further said they do not want to “indulge in the blame game” with Pakistan. “We are ready to work with military and civilian government at all levels. The intentions should be sincere and meaningful. We should not watch lips. We should watch actions. The relationship is at the lowest. No third country can bail us out. Eventually it is Afghanistan and Pakistan that would get hurt,” he observed. “Tensions and instability will eventually hurt both the countries. We want meaningful dialogue and time is not on our side. The sooner we start sincere and meaningful dialogue the better it would be for our common good.” He claimed that his government has taken a deliberate decision to show restraint in the wake of worsening relations between the neighbouring countries. In reply to a question, the Afghan deputy FM said Afghanistan would not be attending the forthcoming ECO summit in Pakistan next month “at leadership level.” However, he did not disclose the level of participation from Afghanistan, which is under process. The theme of the Summit is “Connectivity with Prosperity” and the Foreign Office in Islamabad said last week the summit will discuss options to enhance...
Why Trump Must Define the Mission in Afghanistan
In the next week, the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of state, the director of national intelligence, and the acting national-security advisor will hand President Donald Trump a new military plan to defeat the Islamic State. For the sake of America’s military and political mission in Afghanistan, President Trump should direct the Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence community to conduct a similar assessment against the Taliban movement. At the top of the list should be a fundamental question. Is the conventional concept of “winning” in Afghanistan—pulverizing the Taliban into the ground; defeating al-Qaeda into oblivion; establishing an Afghan army that is corruption-free, independent, and strong enough to control the entire country; and constructing an Afghan government that respects democratic principles—possible to meet? U.S. troop numbers in the country may be at their lowest point since 2002, but the American aircraft and special-operations forces are still all too frequently asked to bail out the Afghan army when they find themselves surrounded. The security situation is going in the wrong direction at an increasingly alarming rate. According to the latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and data from the UN mission, territory under Afghan government control continues to contract. U.S. Forces-Afghanistan reports that 57.2 percent of the country’s districts as of November 2016 are solidly under the thumb of the Afghan security forces—a 15 percent decrease from the same period the year prior. More than 83 percent of Uruzgan province and 57 percent of Helmand province are under insurgent control or influence. Armed clashes between insurgent groups and the Afghan security forces have reached their highest intensity since the UN began tracking the data. Meanwhile, the Afghan security forces are taking so many casualties that it’s becoming increasingly...
Anger Management
Operation Ghazi sees a vengeful regrouping of anti-state actors to undo Zarb-e-Azb The Lahore attack reminds us of some stark realities facing us all. First, the dithering and politicking by the indifferent ruling elite continues to compromise the state of preparedness of the security apparatus. Second, a pliant bureaucracy and police, largely under the thumb of the prime minister and chief ministers, play second fiddle to the ruling elite. Third, a few intellectuals still sympathetically pander to extremist ideologies, creating the space and justification for violence against the people and interests of Pakistan. Four, these circumstances are invariably exacerbated by the interference of a possible foreign hand via proxies such as the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and other Tehreek-e-Taliban factions, all of whom, on the face of it, predicate and justify their violence against “infidel institutions” in the craven pursuit of the Shariah. In reality, they are all instruments of destabilization for Pakistan. The claims for Shariah are at best a fiction since none of these non-state entities either possess the wherewithal or even a semblance of public support to capture the state of Pakistan to impose it. And so, whoever interprets this string of high-profile attacks as revenge exacted by angry and disenchanted Muslim brothers does so at the risk of self-delusion. The ground reality is that Pakistan is facing the atrocious consequences of a triangular proxy war. Entities such as Jamaatul Ahrar, the TTP or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are a few of the ground manifestations of this war that has been a popular recommendation by people such as Ajit Doval, the Indian National Security Advisor, or Amrullah Saleh and Rahmatullah Nabeel, the former heads of the Afghan National Directorate of Security. Such challenges require a much more coherent civilian-military apparatus; the army can undertake surgical, kinetic operations to clear and hold territories but cleansing, consolidating and undertaking...
Afghan Weekly (Feb 10 - Feb 16, 2017)
Moscow hosted a six-party conference on Wednesday with high-level representatives from China, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India and naturally Russia itself, to address the issue of deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and work towards finding a peaceful and political solution to the Afghan dilemma.[1] According to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the consultative meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow is a constructive step in encouraging regional cooperation and solidarity in the war against terrorism.[2] Political commentators believe that Russia’s interests in Afghanistan’s political situation and the thaw in ties between Russians and the Taliban would further complicate the war in Afghanistan.[3] With both Russia and China leading the initiative, Pakistan might claim a diplomatic victory here, but it is yet to be seen how India, with the strengthening of ties with the US and powerful lobbyist in the current US administration, indulges in the dialogue. Meanwhile, Islamabad and Kabul are once again at daggers drawn to each other. The development comes two days after a deadly bombing rocked the Punjab provincial capital Lahore, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens more. According to a press release from the Foreign Office, Pakistan has summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission to convey its concerns over continuing attacks by terrorist outfit Jamaat-ul-Ahrar from its sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.[4] Two days later another bomb ripped through a shrine in interior Sindh leaving over 70 people dead. Hours after the incident the Pak-Afghan border was closed with immediate effect due to security reasons, as revealed by DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet.[5] The border will remain closed until further orders, according to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).[6] The Afghan embassy officials have also been summoned at General Headquarters in this regard, read a statement from the military-wing Inter Services Public...
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.